Daily News ArchivesFrom
June 30, 2005Healthy
Building Network Releases Environmental Rating of Plastic Lumber
(Beyond Pesticides, June 30, 2005) The Healthy Building
Network (HBN) released the first study to rate plastic lumber on environmental
and public health characteristics yesterday. The Guide
To Plastic Lumber finds huge disparities in environmental quality,
including recycled content that ranges from 0 to 100%, according to
a press
release. Plastic lumber is commonly seen as a safer alternative
to traditional wood products, which are commonly treated with highly
toxic heavy-duty wood preservatives.

“The good
news is that environmentally preferable products are positioned to become
the plastic lumber industry standard,” said Bill Walsh, National
Coordinator of HBN and report co-author.

Of the 38 products
reviewed, more than one-third of them earned the top ranking of “Most
Environmentally Preferable.” Nationally known brands Trex, Home
Depot’s Veranda, and the Weyerhauser Choicedeck products featured
at Lowe’s earned a “Less Preferable” designation for
having lower recycled plastic content and for mixing plastics and wood.
Three products (Synboard, Eon and Certainteed’s Boardwalk) made
from unrecycled plastic were labeled “greenwash.”

Lumber, utility
poles, railroad ties, and other products are often treated with the
toxic preservatives chromated
copper arsenate (CCA), pentachlorophenol
(penta) and creosote.
These three heavy-duty wood preservatives rank with the most deadly
chemicals on the market, and are linked to a wide range of health problems
including cancer, birth defects, kidney and liver damage, disruption
of the endocrine system and death. Two of the components of CCA, arsenic
and chromium (VI), are classified as known human carcinogens. Penta,
classified as a probable carcinogen and a known endocrine disruptor
in its own right, is contaminated with dioxins that the National Institutes
of Health has classified as known human carcinogens. EPA has calculated
that children exposed to soil contaminated with penta leaching out of
utility poles face a risk of cancer that is 220 times higher than the
agency's acceptable level. Creosote, a mix of toxic chemicals, is also
a cancer-causing agent and a neurotoxin.

By releasing the
guide, HBN seeks to both assist consumers making environmentally sound
choices about plastic lumber, and to positively influence the direction
of the plastic lumber industry toward sustainable products. “Think
of 100% recycled plastic as sustainably harvested lumber. Think of virgin
PVC lumber as the equivalent of a clear cut,” said Walsh. “We
have the opportunity to steer the emerging plastic lumber market. Let’s
not make the same mistakes made by the natural lumber industry 100 years
ago.”

TAKE
ACTION: For more information on the dangers and alternatives
to wood preservatives, as well as measures to take to prevent possible
harm see our wood preservatives page.
Take efforts to lower your exposure to treated wood. If you have children,
avoid wooden playgrounds, and encourage your local school to build playgrounds
made of alternative products, such as plastic and aluminum . Urge your
utility company to stop the use of CCA-treated utility poles, and replace
those that people come into contact with in home yards, school yards,
and in other places in the community where people, especially children,
come into contact with the wood. If you are worried about exposure to
wood preservatives, you can test
soil around treated wood structures for dangerous levels of arsenic
and chromium VI (a highly toxic ingredient byproduct of CCA).